Here is an update from Don Hammond who runs the Dolphinfish Research Program. Be sure to check the link to his July Newsletter to get the full news in dolphinfish tagging research. (click on the image for a larger version of the picture to the left where Don is checking a tag before releasing a dolphinfish back into the ocean.)
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The annual number of tag recoveries received is normally looked upon as a function of the number of tags placed in fish that year. For seven years the annual recovery rate has bounced around 2.5 percent regardless of the number of dolphin tagged in a year. Half-way through 2009 the recovery rate has jumped to 4.6 percent, nearly double previous levels. Is this a case of increased harvest of the stocks or is it improved reporting?

The Tagging Study is happy to get one or two significant recoveries per year by tagged fish. This year those were accomplished by the end of March with recoveries of tags off the Dominican Republic and Cuba. Recently three more major movements were recorded off the U.S. East Coast (off Florida, South Carolina and North Carolina). And finally three 2009 recoveries in the Bahamas have shed more light on unusual behavior of dolphinfish while in the Tongue of the Ocean.

Recoveries of tagged fish in 2009 have already achieved the primary goal of this study for each year, to gain more information on the movements and behavior of dolphin in the North Atlantic. I hope you find the July issue of the newsletter interesting.
Good Fishing,
Don

One Response to “Dolphinfish Research Project July Update”

You know that this article is very interesting: About 3 years ago im trolling off dry tor tugas and i landed a 20-25 pound cow “dolphin fish” and it had a tag; i remember it was a red tag, and for some reason we had to throw it back. Just by knowing that fish was touched by a biologist made me feel good that somebody is putting their part in the fishing scene.